Six young men seen molesting a girl and ripping her clothes off in a widely-shared video have been arrested by the police in Bihar's Jehanabad. The police acted swiftly after the disturbing video, posted on social media by witnesses who apparently did nothing to help the teen, was received by a senior officer on Sunday. Two more attackers in the clip are still missing.
Senior IPS officer Nayyar Hasnain Khan has formed a special team to investigate the video, which has outraged thousands since it surfaced online.
The girl is seen in the footage helplessly fighting her attackers, who are heard laughing and jeering while dragging her clothes off. One of them can be seen lifting her off her feet as she tries to kick him and free herself. No one could be seen trying to stop the group, including the person who took the video.
Most of the attackers are teenagers, the police say. A motorcycle belonging to one of them, which was also seen in the video, was a vital clue for the
police.
The mobile phone with which the video was shot has been recovered by the police.
The police are carrying out door to door searches in the neighbourhood and talking to villagers to identify the rest of the attackers. The girl and her family are also being counselled, say police sources.
A First Investigation Report has been registered against the accused under the stringent Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The incident comes in the middle of outrage and disgust across India over a series of child rapes.
Amid nationwide rage over the gang-rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua, the centre recently brought in death penalty for child rape through a special order.
A six-year-old in Odisha who was raped by a neighbour, strangled and left to die eight days ago died in hospital on Sunday. She had deep wounds on her head, face, neck and in her private parts.